Baby, I Love You...

Hailing from the Washington Heights area of Manhattan, The Ronettes may not have been commercially the most successful girl group of all time, but their hits in the early to mid 60's have left an indelible mark on music history. Of course everyone knows that their career took off when they paired up with Phil Spector and that "Be My Baby" is one of the finest pieces of music ever recorded by anyone, but in that early sixteen month period of their career they also managed another four Top 40 hits, all built round Ronnie's yearning, vulnerable vocals, including the follow up single "Baby I Love You". Almost on a par with their debut single, the production, even today, is mind blowing.

Quite simply, a great record from the best girl group of all, although The Shangri Las come a close second.

Baby I Love You
Baby I Love You (vocal)

Some Sunday Soul...

I believe, if my memory serves me well, I heard Ann Peebles for the first time many years ago on the Andy Peebles show on a Friday night on Radio 1. Some sort of symmetry there, Peebles plays Peebles. I think it was likely to have been "I Can't Stand The Rain" that I heard and was instantly hooked. The following day I made the trip into Glasgow to visit the Virgin Megastore on Union Street to buy something by this singer whose voice I had fallen in love with the previous night. I picked up some sort of "Best Of" type album and soon realised that there was much more than just the track from the night before.

Andy Peebles was my introduction to soul music, and although his show could be a bit hit or miss, you were always guaranteed to hear a few gems that would lead you to seek out their albums. When I listened to my coveted new purchase it sounded to my young uneducated soul ears similiar to some of the stuff I had heard previously like Al Green. I didn't instantly realise straight away that they were both the mainstays of the legendary Hi label, but, after reading up on the label in a book from my local library (pre-internet days!!) it soon became obvious what a hugely important soul label Hi was, with a roster that included not only Al Green and Ann Peebles but also had terrific soul singers like Otis Clay and Donald Bryant.

(You Keep Me) Hanging On

Disco Friday...

In light of today's need for instant success and fame, it is heartening that it took The Emotions eight years after releasing their first records as The Emotions to finally have a Number 1 hit with the disco classic, "Best Of My Love" in '76. One of the best female vocal trios of all time, "Best Of My Love" marries the trio's tight harmonies to EW&F's Maurice White's joyous production to produce a song worthy of that top spot.

Best Of My Love

Entertain Us ?

One of the records I received many years ago for my 18th birthday was the wonderfully titled "Unseen Ripples From A Pebble " from Romford's finest, The Wolfhounds. It has been many years since I have listened to the album but on the shuffle today up popped their finest tune, "The Anti Midas Touch" and, although very much of it's time, it still sounds bloody good, replete with a riff that is very similiar to a certain tune that topped the charts worldwide five years later by a bunch of lads from Seattle. Although part of the legendary C86 tape, they didn't really fit into any of the neat pigeonholes that people like to put bands into, being a bit more abrasive than some of the tweeness that was very much in vogue back in '86....but all the better for it.

The Anti Midas Touch

Some Sunday Soul...

Originally known as Little Esther, the supremely talented Esther Phillips started her career on the Savoy label in the early 50's and after a few label changes, and a break from the music industry due to her problems with heroin, she released, in the early 60's a crackin' version of "Release Me". Her career started to really take off when she signed to Atlantic Records where she expanded her style and adopted a more jazzy feel to her music. She continued to record well into the 70's and early 80's and recorded some of her best work, including a sadly prophetic cover of Gil Scott Heron's tale of heroin addiction, "Home Is Where The Hatred Is".

Home Is Where The Hatred Is
Try Me  

Disco Friday...

A bass line sampled many years later by Daft Punk, a terrific string arrangement at the end and a dance tune guaranteed to liven up any disco , courtesy of this week's Disco Friday band, The Originals. Released in 1976 on Motown Records, Freddie Gorman's powerful vocals were like a rallying call to get everyone heading over to "Love Town". There's a  lot worse places to head to on a Friday night, so if you are at a loss where to go tonight, then you know where to head on down to....

Down To Love Town

First Take...

Album number four in my Top Ten rundown comes courtesy of a singer whose voice is without comparison and is a thing of rare beauty. I first heard First Take about twenty years ago and twenty odd years later I still love the mesmeric, stunning vocals and songs on Roberta Flack's debut album. Hard to believe that it reached the top of the US charts, as it is not a hugely commercial album, although it did take almost three years after it's initial release to get there. Her seemingly effortless singing and piano playing throughout are just sublime, and like all the best vocalists, you believe every single word that comes out of her mouth. You feel like she is just performing for you, with wonderful, unerstated arrangements and a purity to the recordings that is nothing short of magical.

I still recall watching Play Misty For Me many years ago and hearing The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and then trying to find out as much about this amazing singer as I could. When I first listened to First Take I heard bits of Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone and Sarah Vaughan amongst others but ,above all else, I heard the emergence of a major new talent in the voice of the one and only Roberta Flack.

Tryin' Times

Electric Boogaloo...

Hey, you, the Rock Steady Crew
Show what you do, make a break, make a move
Hey, you, the Rock Steady Crew
B-boys, breakers, electric boogaloo

For some unknown reason those four immortal lines have been in my head all day. I don't really remember my dreams most nights so not sure if I was dreaming about being in The Rock Steady Crew during the night, but I literally woke up singing (badly) those very lyrics.  I read an article on them before going to sleep last night about their recent 37th anniversary gig in Central Park so that may be the reason. I have often thought that I don't dream but apparently we all do, it's just that some people, like me, don't remember them.

A million selling single in the UK over 30 years ago, and a Number 1 hit in The Netherlands. Those Dutch know a good tune when they hear one. Formed in The Bronx 37 years ago, The Rock Steady Crew's unique brand of hip hop harks back to a more innocent time where it was all about having fun and putting a smile on people's faces, rather than rapping about hoes, bitches and guns. The "bring back old school hip hop" campaign starts here...

Hey You

Some Sunday Soul...

 

Apart from "California Soul" I was not that aware of the music of Marlena Shaw until fairly recently. A few Sundays back during the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow the Merchant City was transformed for the annual Vintage Festival and one of the stalls was run by the wonderful Charity Shop DJ. At the stall you got a plain white cardboard 12" album sleeve and wrote your name and one of your fave songs on it. You then held it up in front of you and got your picture taken, before it appeared on a large screen alongside all the others who had done the same. A very special person who was there with me picked "California Soul" and it got me thinking that I hadn't really heard much of Shaw's work. After listening to her for the last few weeks I can't believe that I was not more aware of the sublime talent that is Marlena Shaw.

Although still recording and performing today, her best material are the tracks she recorded for Cadet in the 60's and Blue Note in the 70's. Real music, sung from the heart. Incredible voice that just seems perfect for a chilled out, relaxing Sunday. By equal measures versatile, unique and oozing soul, Marlena Shaw is so much more than just "California Soul".

A good starting place for anyone, like me, who hasn't heard much of her material is her Anthology album, released on the Soul Brother label back in 2010.

Loving You Was Like A Party

Disco Friday...

Today's disco tune is another one of those tracks that not everyone may think fits the disco genre, but I feel it merits it's place so it is this week's Disco Friday tune. From 1980, "Take Your Time (Do It Right) was our first introduction to the The Sounds Of Success, better known to all of us as The S.O.S. Band. Apparently the single sold over two million copies, not too shabby for a debut single. Hard to believe that this is almost 35 years old now, although I do have a vague recollection of roller skating to this tune at The Olympia in East Kilbride. It's strangely comforting how you can pin point most parts of your life through music and how certain songs can transport you back to what you were doing at a certain time in your life. Great tune, that today would still get the party started tonight...

Take Your Time (Do It Right)

Simply Dusty...

It goes without saying that "Dusty In Memphis" is, by anyone's standards, a classic album. And much as I do love said album the one Dusty album that I go back to time after time is her debut from 1964 on the Philips label, "A Girl Called Dusty". Some of the tracks, such as "I Only Wanna Be With You" are well known to all, but it is the lesser known tracks, like "When The Lovelight Starts Shining", that showcase what a vocal talent she was from the very beginning of her career. Starting off with a terrific version of "Mama Said", Dusty is in full control from the off and delivers on every track, from beautiful ballads such as "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" to uptempo numbers like the electrifying "Can I Get A Witness". There are quite a few covers on the album that more than match the originals including my favourite recorded version of "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa".

One of the finest female vocalists of all time, her debut album captures perfectly the unique, soulful vocals of one of the most versatile and gifted singers that have ever graced the charts. There is a very good reason why, along with Dionne Warwick, she became the greatest interpreter of Burt Baccarach songs and this album, that is my third choice in my Top 10 rundown, encapsulates the moment when the world first experienced the wonderful Dusty Springfield.

It also has one of the best sleeves of any album that I own. Just a very simple cover of Dusty in a blue denim shirt, standing in front of a blue background. Doesn't sound that great but it just works so well, like the best album covers do.

Mama Said

A Big Big Love...

I started working in record stores back in '88 in Glasgow, at a time when every town across the UK had a fair smattering of chain stores (where I worked) and indie stores. Changed days nowadays, especially outside of the main cities. Anyway, when I first started it was mostly vinyl that was sold and mostly vinyl that we played in the shop. I still recall on my first day one of the managers telling me to put something on when the previous album had finished and after much thought I opted for the 12" of "Gigantic". Not really what they were expecting to hear at the tail end of November when the store was full of Christmas shoppers waiting to buy "Kylie" or "Now 13". I don't recall most of the music I played in record stores over the years but that has always stuck with me and remains to this day one of my favourite songs.

As is the album that it appears on, which is the second album in my Top 10 rundown. To this day I cannot think of any other album that sounds like "Surfer Rosa". Innovative, experimental and not a little unnerving, from the opening drums on "Bone Machine" through to the terrific guitar playing on "Brick Is Red" there is not a dull moment. Raw, abrasive and strangely melodic with great songwriting throughout. Although "Doolittle" is a more accessible album, for me, "Surfer Rosa" is the definitive sound of The Pixies - Stevie Albini's glorious production, Black Francis' stunning, unholy screech, the sheer force of that opening quartet of songs leading into the classic that is "Gigantic", Kim Deal's melody driven bass lines and sweet as honey backing vocals, the ferocious drumming of Dave Lovering and the caustic, unique guitar playing of Joey Santiago. This album is where all the individual elements fused together.

I still get the same sense of excitement listening to "Surfer Rosa" as I did back in '89, and in an age of overproduction, the freshness and rawness of this album is still thrilling to hear. There is no filler on the album at all, all the tracks just seem to fit together like a jigsaw. I'd be surprised if even the band realised they had written a classic at the time. If you heard some tracks on their own, like the frankly insane "Tony's Theme" it might not make sense but as a whole album it makes perfect sense.

A truly inspirational album that has rarely been off my turntable over the last 25 years, "Surfer Rosa" may not be the easiest album to listen to but is well worth taking the time to get to know and love.

Broken Face

Some Sunday Soul...

Taken from his seventh studio album, "So In Love" from Curtis Mayfield is quite simply one of my all time fave tunes. There is a purity and honesty about it that would just melt the coldest of hearts. I could quite happily just sit back and listen to Curtis' vocals all day long on a lazy Sunday, maybe with a touch of Marvin, Aretha and Al Green thrown in the mix also. The aforementioned album, "There's No Place Like America Today" is up there with the best of Curtis' work, with a combination of beautiful tracks such as "Love To The People", sitting alongside harder edged numbers like the wonderful "Billy Jack". Only seven tracks on the album but it doesn't need anymore, it is just right the way it is. It hasn't quite made it into my Top 10 album rundown but is not far off it...

So In Love

Disco Friday...

 

Famously sampled (ripped off ??) by Black Box in the late 80's, "Love Sensation" is a true disco classic. You can hear from the opening why it has been sampled so often by so many artists - step forward The Pet Shop Boys, Moby and Samantha Fox (!!) among many, many others. Loletta Hollway's vocals just blow you away from the second she opens her mouth. Easily one of the defining songs of the disco era, great tune, powerful, passionate vocal with a funky beat and top orchestration. What's not to like ?

From The Mary Chain to Loletta Holloway within 24 hours...just proves the point that good music is good music and that there are no boundaries..

Hope you enjoy...

Love Sensation

Honey Coated Beehive...

From the age of about ten onwards music became a huge part of my life after hearing bands like The Specials, Blondie, The Jam and Adam And The Ants for the first time. At eleven I was wearing a pork pie hat, skinny tie, sta press trousers, Harrington jacket and sporting a rather fetching crew cut. By twelve I was going to a local under 18's disco with a white stripe across the bridge of my nose and wearing the Adam Ant gold and black jacket that he famously wore. How I didn't get a kicking walking down the streets of Lanarkshire I will never know !!

For the next two or three years I would have been listening to great bands like Dexys, Style Council, EATB, The Smiths, until life changed musically late '84, when one winter night listening to the great man himself between ten and midnight, at fifteen years old, I heard for the first time the glorious noisefest that was "Upside Down". Much as I still love all the other bands mentioned here I was just at the right age and in the right place for The Mary Chain. Being from the same town just seemed to cement the thought that this was the band for me. Suddenly I found new friends at school who were also talking about The Mary Chain and as we entered '85 with the prospect of an album we had our own wee gang where we shared our love of all the early Creation bands and the twee, shambling bands that were emerging from Glasgow at the time.

Fast forward to the fag end of '85 and fourteen tracks of sugar coated noise appeared in the shape of the unique and classic "Psychocandy". The influence that this album had on us spotty, angst ridden sixteen year old boys cannot be overstated. Even today it's influence can be heard on any number of bands, perfect pop songs drenched in feedback that although hugely influenced by the likes of the Velvets, Iggy, Spector, Beach Boys, stood out massively from all the dross that was clogging up the charts in the mid 80's. The feedback never overwhelms the pop tunes under it, it seems somehow to complement the melodies that the Reid brothers put together so beautifully. At the time the music was sometimes overshadowed by the "riots" at their legendary live shows but there is no getting away from the fact that The Jesus and Mary chain recorded an album of perfect pop songs that still sounds fresh today and would be in my Top 10 albums of all time. It would be almost impossible for me to single out individual tracks from "Psychocandy" but outside of the singles my favourite track on the album would have to be the majestic "The Hardest Walk".

No idea what it will be like but can't wait until November to see them perform the album in it's entirety, over 27 years since I first saw them live.

Fingers crossed that this and the other nine postings over the next few weeks will complement the Top Ten rundown posted recently by George and the forthcoming rundown by Charity Chic and hopefully by Walter.

The Hardest Walk

Some Sunday Soul...

Being a cousin of Percy Sledge and living close to the Muscle Shoals studio, it was almost inevitable that  Jimmy Hughes would become a soul singer. He began singing in a gospel quartet, The Singing Clouds, while still at high school before auditioning for Rick Hall' s Fame label in the early 60's. It would be another couple of years before he had a bona fide hit with the majestic "Steal Away". By the mid 60's, Hall's Fame label had a distribution deal with Atlantic Records, where Hughes had his greatest success with "Neighbor, Neighbor" and "Why Not Tonight". He then moved onto the Atlantic label itself and then onto the legendary Stax label, where due to a lack of promotion his career started to wane and he retired from the music industry in 1970.

Why Not Tonight

Disco Friday

There can't be many more uplifting records than 1979 disco classic "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now". Although McFadden and Whitehead wrote and produced songs for the likes of Gladys Knight, The Jackson 5 and James Brown, they will always be remembered for the their only major hit with that unforgettable bassline and the joyful positivity that just bursts forth from every groove...

There've been so many things that have held us down
But now it looks like things are finally comin' around, yeah
I know we've got a long long way to go, yeah
And where we'll end up
I don't know
But we won't let nothing hold us back

I was watching the video for this on YouTube the other day and 13 people had clicked on the dislike button...hard to believe that anyone could dislike this but there you go...

Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now